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Metro Trains is investigating a potential defect in its newest train fleet – which operates exclusively through the city’s $15 billion Metro Tunnel – after an incident in February that left hundreds of commuters stranded in carriages for up to two hours.
Metro believes issues with the pantographs (the arm mounted on top of the train which contacts with overhead wires to draw power) on its new fleet of High-Capacity Metro Trains (HCMT) could cause overhead wire entanglements.
On February 3, an HCMT pulled down an overhead wire near Armadale, leaving around 600 passengers stuck onboard two trains for almost two hours without air-conditioning on a 30-degree day. Passengers eventually evacuated the train before walking along the tracks to Malvern station.
Metro has identified that the Armadale incident was caused by a pantograph fault, and an alert sent to drivers and seen by The Age suggests it may be an ongoing risk.
“Following recent HCMT pantograph entanglement incidents in the past few weeks, [Metro Trains Melbourne] are working with all relevant stakeholders to help identify abnormal pantograph behaviour,” the February 11 notice stated.
The notice said Metro was looking for pantographs bobbing up and down and excessively arching, which was “considered a potential contributing factor to recent entanglement events”.
One Metro Trains driver, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their employment, said overhead entanglements were unusual.
The driver said it was not possible to monitor the pantographs in the HCMTs, as Metro had requested, because unlike older train models they do not have driver cabin-side mirrors. Instead, they have rear-facing CCTV cameras focused on the train doors and do not capture the top of the train.
“A lot of overhead issues are prevented simply by the driver seeing an issue and stopping the train, or lowering the pantograph, before something goes wrong,” they said.
HCMTs operate on the Cranbourne/Pakenham and Sunbury lines, which now form a single cross-city line connected via the Metro Tunnel, which opened to passengers on November 30.
Starting in 2017, Victoria spent $2.3 billion building 70 HCMTs and associated maintenance facilities through a public-private partnership, under which infrastructure services group Downer is responsible for their maintenance.
Despite boasting the newest trains and other upgrades associated with the Metro Tunnel, Pakenham and Sunbury lines recorded the highest number of cancellations (0.9 per cent) on the Metro’s electrified network in February and March. Cranbourne had the fifth most cancellations (0.7 per cent) out of Metro’s 15 lines.
A major incident occurred last week when an overhead wire was brought down near Clayton, suspending Cranbourne and Pakenham line trains until around 4.30pm the following day. However, Metro said this was not caused by a train fault.
When contacted by The Age, a Metro Trains spokesperson said: “There has been one incident this year when a faulty pantograph on a HCMT has caused disruptions on our network”.
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Patrick Hatch is transport reporter at The Age and a former business reporter.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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